Over the last few months, in cities across the country, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey and Half Full have been hosting Bulleit Frontier Lab Seminars to educate and empower bartenders and people working in the hospitality industry.
Bulleit Frontier Labs started back in 2018, and the most recent leg of the tour kicked off this past summer with a full day of events at the Tales of the Cocktail Conference in New Orleans. The talks, which have featured top spirits and cocktails experts, have run the gamut from the history of the Boilermaker, led by Half Full’s editor Noah Rothbaum and Half Full columnist Lew Bryson, to more personal presentations, like the one by Josh Harris and Morgan Schick on how to create an award-winning and eye-catching drinks menu, and one by Tim Etherington-Judge, founder of non-profit organization Healthy Hospo, on how essential it is for bartenders to have a balanced lifestyle.
The series also included a running conversation about the importance and the future of mentorship in the bar industry as well as how do you train and teach junior employees and folks entering the business. An all-star group of bartenders and bar owners have weighed-in, including Ivy Mix, Julie Reiner, Laura Cullen, Yael Vengroff, Christine Wiseman, Albe Huerta, Alicia Perry and Chris Bostick.
In several cities, author and all-star Portland, Oregon, bartender Jeffrey Morgenthaler shared his informative and engaging presentation, the Bartender Paradox, about why bartenders should stay behind the bar and not get distracted by other opportunities.
In Atlanta, top New York bartender Karl Franz Williams spoke about staying relevant and how a bar can create a cocktail program and a concept that is enduringly popular no matter the latest trends.
And Rothbaum and bartender Adam Fournier gave a fascinating talk about the new frontier of cocktails and cuisine in Los Angeles, which touched upon the origins and future of the city’s restaurant and bar scene.
Bulleit is dedicated to supporting bartender education and the hospitality community in general, and is proud to announce that it is sponsoring more editions of the Bulleit Frontier Lab Seminars across the country in 2020. We hope to see you at one of them!
